You can add this one (like abortion, like HST, like FDK, and a bunch of other issues) to the bulging HUDAK IS FULL OF CRAP file:

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Barn story lays an egg; PC’s red tape tale ‘not a good example’

(Windsor Star, Sharon Hill )

The Conservatives have egg on their faces after claiming there’s so much red tape in Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario that egg farmers are told what colour to paint the insides of their barns.

Ontario PC Leader Tim Hudak used the example last week and Wednesday it was again part of a news conference and news release by Essex PC candidate Dave Brister as he repeated the party plan to cut the number of provincial regulations by 30 per cent if elected.

The barn-colour regulation cited as an example to cut overregulation doesn’t exist.

“As far as anybody who’s ever dealt with poultry here, there is nothing we regulate on that,” said Susan Murray, a spokeswoman at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Pamela Bolton of the Egg Farmers of Ontario also said she wasn’t aware of any provincially regulated poultry palette.

“It’s probably not a very good example,” she said.

When it comes to egg laying, chickens don’t seem to care about the colour of the inside of the barn and neither does the Egg Farmers of Ontario, which has no colour rules, said Bolton who serves in the marketing organization as a project manager. She said there are recommendations about painting wood to keep the barn cleaner. Even if the Tories are referring to an egg grading station, that would be a federally inspected area and not a provincial regulation, she said.

When questioned, Brister and Ontario MPP Toby Barrett of Haldimand-Norfolk, who was in Kingsville for the news conference Wednesday, tracked down the source of the example to a March news story from the Ottawa region where a farmer questioned if the government should be allowed to dictate the colour of an egggrading area.

Brister didn’t back off the example even when it appeared there is no provincial regulation.

 

Comments (9)

Wow! Someone has already done up a fun little web site for that paragon of political integrity, Tony Grenco. Check it out!

And while you’re at it, send Tony a plate of ribs as a goodwill gesture! I certainly plan to!

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For a friend with a small claims case. It’s a fun one.

Got a good name, anyone?

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Warren whistles on-air, whilst throwing an imaginary football.

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That’s what the PCs called the rubenesque Tony at his nomination meeting tonight. “Tony Grenco.”

Here’s some of the stuff Grenco has said in the past. I and others will enjoy seeing Greg Sorbara put this loser through a meat grinder.

TONY GENCO ON THE HARRIS/HUDAK CONSERVATIVES

“The Tory wrecking crew has gone too far. Let’s put our families and community first.”
Tony Genco, Candidate Card, 1999

“(The Ontario PCs) have increased the debt by $24 billion – they closed hospitals and increased classroom size. Our children will be paying for (the Ontario PCs) promises. Let’s put an end to policies that have hurt our community and mortgaged our children?s future.” Tony Genco, Campaign brochure, 1999

“Ontario has somehow become a meaner place for seniors, the poor and the sick” since the Conservatives got control of the purse strings, Genco said. “They’ve taken the care out of health care and learning out of education. They think government is a business, but it’s not. It’s the guardian of the public trust.” Tony Genco, Toronto Star, June 1, 1999

“First they fire the nurses and then they rehire them just before the election,” Genco said. “They want an American-type, credit card health-care system. One system for the rich, another for the rest of us.” Tony Genco, Toronto Star, May 20, 1999

Genco said Harris is the ‘Gordon Gekko’ of politics (after a movie character who is a greedy 1980s-style stockbroker). “He’s trying to condition us to be selfish and intolerant, to make greed good.” Tony Genco, Toronto Star, June 1, 1999

Cutting income taxes before retiring the provincial deficit, he added, is irresponsible. “They’ve put my daughter $23.2 billion in debt,” Genco said. “I don’t know any business that would borrow to pay shareholders a dividend.” Tony Genco, Toronto Star, June 1, 1999

“The air we breathe and the water we drink know no borders. Maybe Mike Harris and company want us to think we don’t need municipal governments – let’s get rid of them all and save big bucks. Or maybe the real question is: Does this government have the courage to care about the really important things?” Tony Genco, Letter to the Editor, Toronto Star, April 10, 2000

TONY GENCO EXPLAINS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIBERALS AND CONSERVATIVES

“Conservatives are in for commanding, controlled government while Liberals are for working together in collaboration. Liberals are in the government to make everyone a winner, and Conservatives only make some people winners.” Tony Genco, South Asian Generation Next, November 10, 2010

TONY GENCO ON LIBERAL MPP GREG SORBARA

Genco, former director of the Vaughan hospital foundation, calls Fantino’s comment “nonsensical – it demonstrates how little understanding this candidate has for how the system works.” He credits Sorbara with getting the hospital into the planning stage. Toronto Star, November 20, 2010

“The hospital plan of action is already in place – and I know others have been advocating for this for many, many years including your local member of provincial parliament Greg Sorbara who I have been working very closely with on putting a strategy in place along with the many volunteers from Vaughan and York Central board of directors.” Tony Genco, Tele-Town Hall Meeting, November 9, 2010

“That is a very good question and a very important question. Most of it falls in the area of my friend Greg Sorbara, the MPP for Vaughan and he is a very good and experienced guy and I am sure we could find ways to work with you on making sure that your needs and concerns are addressed.”
Tony Genco, Tele-Town Hall Meeting, November 9, 2010

Comments (1)

Per yesterday’s post about the Ford family’s plan to render Toronto an Ozark-ish outpost:

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If this guy is against her for party president, I am automatically all for her.

Just do the opposite of whatever he says, and you can’t ever lose.

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All of which goes to say that on abortion, Hudak has stepped on a landmine. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty might just have found a way to make up those 11 percentage points he has trailed Hudak in polling before the Oct. 6 vote.

Hudak’s inexperience was showing last week at a news conference. When asked about his abortion position, the Tory leader said: “We are not reopening the debate.” In 2009, Hudak said he could not support abortion and had backed a petition against funding it.

Still at the news conference, Hudak said he “may” have signed a petition. Later in the week, Hudak admitted he did sign a petition at his church.

Meanwhile, McGuinty, an experienced pol, knew the correct response. Through his spokeswoman, the premier said he “supports a woman’s right to choose. … The Mc-Guinty government has always held this position and will continue to stand up for Ontario women’s right to choose.”

McGuinty is uniquely positioned to benefit from an abortion debate…

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Let’s see:

• Toronto’s mayor doesn’t deny giving the finger to a six-year-old, while breaking the law.
• Mayor’s brother expresses desire to shutter libraries, and disses the greatest living Canadian writer.
• Mayor’s top aide is implicated in contract scandal.

…and all of it on the same day! Not bad, eh? Yep, we’re Toronto, and we’re world class!

“World-class,” indeed.  But not in the way we’d hoped, I suspect.

Tim Hudak supporter Rob Ford scans the horizon, looking for a small child he can swear at.

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Gays, lesbians and others who perished in the Holocaust were not “real victims,” quote unquote.

Eleven days ago, this same far-rightist tilted at me and others on Twitter for pointing out that Tim Hudak has pledged, in writing and on the floor of the Legislature, to defund abortion. When he was asked his role within the PC campaign, he went silent.

Blum is the campaign manager for the Hudak PCs in Toronto Centre.  He has a senior, formal role in the Hudak machine. Does Hudak agree with Blum that gays, lesbians and others were not “real victims” of the Holocaust?

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